This week I represented a man suffering from delusions. Part of the evidence against him was a letter explaining he had sold his soul and wanted recompense for this. Yet the police were unwilling to even consider that he might have mental health problems. This was despite being told that he had been referred by his GP for an urgent psychiatric assessment.
I managed to get them to call a doctor to assess him. After a further two hours I was told that they wanted to proceed without an assessment but with an appropriate adult to satisfy their obligations under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Pace). Again I insisted on an assessment. They eventually agreed.
Related: Legal aid cuts: lawyers to begin boycott that could see courts grind to a halt
I have heard, 'Why have I been arrested? I haven’t done anything wrong' only a few thousand times over the past 20 years
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